“MAXXING” IS THE WORD OF THE YEAR, AND WILL SMITH SAID IT FIRST! | Sleepmaxxing, fibermaxxing, looksmaxxing: Dictionary.com crowns the Gen Z suffix that turns everything into a self-improvement grind

ARE YOU MAXXING YET? Americans have gone all in, and Dictionary.com has made “maxxing” its 2026 Word of the Year, the BBC reported.

Short for maximising, the term “can be used on its own or added to the end of any word to convey you’re doing something to the fullest or optimizing it as much as possible,” the site said. Digital media used it nearly 19 times more in August 2026 than the 2025 monthly average.

Fitness influencers post about “proteinmaxxing” and “fibermaxxing.” Bedtime obsessives are “sleepmaxxing.” And the influencer Clavicular has racked up followers chronicling his extreme “looksmaxxing,” chasing set standards for jawlines, eyes and physique.

“Maxxing is the linguistic manifestation of a culture increasingly preoccupied with getting the most out of everything,” said Steve Johnson, director of lexicography for the Dictionary Media Group. Some people embrace it, some mock it, and some flip it to mean stepping back from the grind.

It beat out affordability, data centre, odyssey and “unc.” Past winners: “demure” two years ago, and “67” last year. And the BBC points out the original: in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme, Will Smith was already “chillin’ out, maxin’, relaxin’ all cool.”

Featured image: AI-generated editorial illustration by Bugle Blast.

Sources: BBC News